Here’s Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins destroying Boston’s Marc Savard. Video’s after the jump, but obviously people took issue with a guy elbowing another guy in the head while he wasn’t looking. So what is he supposed to do? Not hit him? Wait for him to look? This is what happens when you take fighting out of pro hockey. Instead of sending a couple of Bruins over to rearrange Matt Cooke’s face, you end up with a bunch of people aggrandizing after the fact about what a dirty hit it was after the game. Bitching and moaning is bad for hockey, not only does it sully the image of the game, but it dissolves the concept of immediate consequences. Yeah, hits to the head are bad, but punches to the head of a guy that just hit someone in the head restore balance to the universe. Thanks, “Röbert.”

good thing they have Coldplay locked an loaded for when they hit the “Guy Dying on the Ice” button in the sound booth.

03.08.10 at 3:33 pm

picklestick38

Don’t write about hockey if you don’t know the realities. Fighting has not been taken out of pro hockey. The only rule put in place is the instigator rule to prevent pre-planned fights and even that isn’t assessed in most cases.